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A Feminist Reading of La Vieille's Speech in Jean De Meun's Portion of Le Roman De La Rose by Patricia Marie Phillips-Batom

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A Feminist Reading of La Vieille's Speech in Jean De Meun's Portion of Le Roman De La Rose by Patricia Marie Phillips-Batom View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship Repository A FEMINIST READING OF LA VIEILLE’S SPEECH IN JEAN DE MEUN’S PORTION OF LE ROMAN DE LA ROSE BY PATRICIA MARIE PHILLIPS-BATOMA DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in French in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Karen Fresco, Chair Professor Douglas Kibbee Professor Janet Smarr Associate Professor Yvette Smith Abstract This dissertation undertakes to produce a close reading of la Vieille’s speech in Jean de Meun’s portion of Le roman de la rose . This speech has been traditionally interpreted as ironic, but this analysis seeks to incorporate the work of feminist critics as well as a relatively new area of research on women’s lives in 13th-century Europe, to develop a feminist reading strategy that can be applied to this text as well as to other notoriously misogynist texts. The first chapter consists of a review of the literature on the Rose and brings to light the diverse ways in which this text has been read by critics. The second chapter focuses on a structural feature of the text as a whole, called imbricated structure, and describes how this feature can be identified in all of the major speeches of Jean’s portion of the Rose . This pattern has implications for reading and interpreting the themes and references brought up in each speech. A third chapter establishes the historical context within which modern readers can situate this text, that of 13th-century France. Chapter 4 offers a close reading of la Vieille’s speech, taking into account the structure described in Chapter 2. In Chapter 5, the conclusion, it is suggested that in order to become a resistant reader, to use Judith Fetterly’s term, readers need to become aware of and move beyond the patriarchal norms that have guided and continue to guide literary criticism. ii Acknowledgements There are many people to thank for their contribution to the completion of this doctoral thesis on Le roman de la rose . First and foremost I wish to thank my advisor, Professor Karen Fresco, for her guidance during the initial writing stage of the thesis and for her steady support over the years during which I struggled to deposit it while also juggling professional and family pressures. Her knowledge of Old French is unsurpassed by any scholar I have read, and her attention to detail when rereading and giving feedback on a text is exceptionally thorough. I would also like to recognize the other members of my doctoral committee. Professor Douglas Kibbee consistently gave valuable feedback on the where I needed to clarify ideas and nuance my wording when I tended to overgeneralize. Professor Janet Smarr’s advice on how to “unpack” my ideas helped me to see where I needed to expand on what I said, and this has in turn helped me to improve my writing. Professor Yvette Smith consistently provided strong support, both on a personal and professional level, and her knowledge of critical theory was invaluable to me as I worked through this scholarship. Few people have a greater appreciation for a good library than someone who undertakes a doctoral thesis on medieval French literature. The University Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is among the best in the world, and I wish to acknowledge the competency and expediency of the Library staff who were always able to find the resources and books that I needed to consult. As I prepare to deposit this thesis I cannot help but think of the person with whom I first corresponded when applying to the graduate program in the Department of French at the University of iii Illinois, Professor Emile Talbot, whose sudden death this spring has left behind a great void for all who had the privilege of working with him. He was a great teacher, generous with his time and level-headed when offering advice. I will always be grateful for his consistent support of every endeavor I undertook. I want to recognize my own family, especially my parents, who encouraged any and all signs of scholarship in their children. My mother, Bertha A. Phillips, R.N., passed away in 2012, and although she did not live to see me complete this thesis, she was present at the defense, and so I am ever mindful of her presence in this work as well as in my life. My father, Dr. Joseph M. Phillips, PhD, a career educator and James Joyce scholar, was a proponent of learning foreign languages early in life and was always open to supporting his children in that regard whether it be the purchase of a short-wave radio, a new dictionary or providing the resources to participate in an exchange program. Finally, I wish to thank my husband, Atoma Batoma, for his confidence in me and support of my scholarly pursuits, as well as our three children, N’tchana, Mahatom and Asanah. I dedicate this thesis to all of them. iv Table of Contents Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: Towards a Feminist Reading of La Vieille’s Speech…….…………………………....2 Chapter 2: La Vieille’s Speech and the Imbricated Structure of the Rose: The Example of the Golden Age Myth …………………………………………………………………………....45 Chapter 3: Text and Context: Women’s Lives in Thirteenth-Century France ……………76 Chapter 4: A Close Reading of la Vieille’s Speech …………………………………………..107 Chapter 5: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..181 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………….189 Appendix ………………………………………………………………………………….208 v Introduction The numerous allusions to reading within Jean de Meun’s portion of Le Roman de la rose have led the Swiss medievalist, Marc-René Jung, to comment that this poem is an allegory of reading for, as he writes, “lire Le Roman de la rose, c’est lire le récit de lecteurs” (1978, 241). One of these readers is la Vieille, who incorporates into her speech allusions to both Latin and vernacular texts. In this thesis I seek to articulate a reading strategy that opens up new ways of reading la Vieille’s speech. Therefore, this study is at once a study of la Vieille’s speech and a reflection on the act of reading itself. I aim to show that in order to go beyond the critical tendency to read la Vieille’s speech as comical and ironic, it is necessary to recognize the cultural assumptions that have guided critical readings of this text. By doing so, it is possible to see that by drawing on Latin and vernacular sources to build her arguments regarding love, the author of the Rose has la Vieille use these sources to problematize the legitimacy of certain reading practices, particularly those of the male academic community. What the author has her do with these texts is to rewrite and reread them and, inadvertently or not, reveal the role that texts and reading play in the reproduction of a patriarchal order that legitimizes male control of female sexual function. 1 Chapter 1: Towards a Feminist Reading of La Vieille’s Speech 1. Why a feminist reading? La Vieille’s speech in Jean de Meun’s portion of Le Roman de la rose is where I begin to lay the foundations of a feminist reading strategy for medieval texts, and it would be hard to find a better place to start such a project. Jean’s text was widely circulated throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, and controversy seems to have surrounded it wherever it went. It is today, and was then, especially known for its misogyny, and the speech of la Vieille bears out this reputation just as well as any other portion of it. This speech lends itself to feminist analysis for two reasons. First, la Vieille belongs to a tradition of the old woman, a type of misogynous stock character who owes its very existence to associations between the female body, excessive appetite for sex, bodily decay and death. As a former prostitute turned procuress, la Vieille is a perfect locus for these associations. And yet, she appropriates the language of the male university community in order to speak out against the misogynous tradition. Second, while she speaks out against this order, she is still a construct of a male author, Jean de Meun. The only thing that is certain about her speech is that there is no stable reference point from which to begin to interpret it. The instability of meaning, which is characteristic of Jean de Meun’s portion of the Roman de la rose , provides an opportunity for new readings of this text. The first step in articulating a feminist reading of la Vieille’s speech involves reviewing how it has been read by traditional critics. Therefore, in this chapter I explore two complementary avenues of inquiry regarding readings of Jean de Meun’s portion of Le Roman de la rose. A first section looks at how this work has been read over the centuries and what types of assumptions 2 have guided the major critical readings of it. The second avenue concentrates on la Vieille’s speech. Based on my conclusions of the first avenue of inquiry into the act of reading the Rose , I look at how la Vieille’s speech has been read by critics, and examine the implications of these critical readings. In so doing I seek to establish how modern readers have been directed by experts to read la Vieille’s entire speech as ironic.
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